DECIDUOUS FLOWERING TREES 43 
although seldom planted in gardens, is very elegant in 
aspect, and bears in great profusion large clusters of 
pure white flowers about a month after the blossoming 
of the hawthorn. 
The several thorns here mentioned are readily in- 
creased by grafting or budding, the common hawthorn 
being used as a stock. As grafted and budded thorns 
have a tendency to produce growths below the junction 
of stock and scion it is important to remove the shoots 
produced by the stock as fast as they make their 
appearance. 
Haestas oR Snowprop TREES. — These are so 
exquisitely beautiful that it would be difficult to over- 
praise them. Neat in growth and free in flowering, they 
are of special value for small gardens. Halesia tetraptera 
is the most handsome of those in cultivation. It attains 
a height of eight or ten feet, is graceful in habit, and 
has pure white flowers that have a close resemblance to 
those of the snowdrop. The flowers are borne in 
clusters of six or eight each, and are produced in April 
or May according to the season and district. H. hispida, 
which was introduced from Japan in 1875, is very 
similar to the first-named species, and is vigorous in 
growth and free in blooming, the flowers being white, 
with a resemblance to the snowdrop, and are produced 
during the spring months. 
The snowdrop trees should be given prominent 
positions along the front of the shrubbery and care 
be taken to prevent them being crowded by strong 
growing subjects. A well-drained light soil is essential 
to success, and the stations should be properly pre- 
pared; the first- mentioned species should, where 
practicable, be grown in a mixture consisting of peat 
and light loam. 
Laspurnums.—The laburnums are so well known for 
the glorious display of golden flowers they produce 
